Marvel’s multi-film experiment in continuity is great for regular viewers, but unfortunate if you read movie sites like this. Bringing the comics to life and the stories to fruition is great, but when a certain character is cast, it seems likely that they’re gonna stick around for multiple movies. Any suspense in regards to their fate will be absent, and you can only hope to enjoy your time spent with them. Multi-appearance arcs are a regular concept in comics, and now that concept is stretching into film.
The latest to join the multi-appearance brigade is Thomas Kretschmann, who will be playing Baron Von Strucker in Avengers: Age Of Ultron. In an interview with B.Z. Berlin (via Comic Book Movie) to promote the recently-released Stalingrad, Kretschmann revealed that the Baron will be sticking around:
"I have a multi-picture deal which means I will not only appear in the 2nd part, but they're planning with me for a longer period of time. But I don't know details yet, they're keeping their cards close to their chest - top secret!"
In the comics, Baron Von Strucker is a leader of HYDRA, the organization led by the Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger. The character is a German veteran of World War I and II, and ultimately joins the Nazi party as a physically-augmented, ageless specimen. He's also got a loaded history with the comics’ Sgt. Nick Fury, who is also ageless and a WWII veteran, and while that element won’t be retained, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see that Samuel L. Jackson’s Fury knows all about this bad guy.
In Age Of Ultron, Von Strucker is said to be in charge of an operation that employs the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), but what role he plays beyond that is uncertain. He will survive, though, and probably become a pest in Captain America 3, given the character’s adversarial relationship with Cap in the comics. Kretschmann is a fine choice in the role: tall, handsome, intense, he was ultimately bound to play a superhero or supervillain at some point.
And hey, maybe Marvel has plans for him beyond simple villainy. Von Strucker is one of the earlier members of one of Marvel’s most popular super-teams, the Thunderbolts. Ultimately, the character’s founding of this group was a ruse to trick the heroes into thinking they were reformed. In fact, it was a grand plan to earn the same sort of acceptance as groups like the Avengers, in a long-con that involved selling secrets to the criminal underworld. Baron Zemo was the character that started the group, but Von Strucker, in his associations with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, could easily be that person, instead. Sony is doing a Sinister Six film: maybe Marvel is also considering a Thunderbolts picture, uniting their villains?
